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Between Ourselves

June '10

In Psalm 118 verse 7 we read, "The Lord is with me, He is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies."

We all need help from time to time. The Lord helps us far more than we realise in big things and small things that happen to us.

Sometimes so many things are going wrong that we need to remind ourselves of Jesus' death on the cross, then His triumphant resurrection. He won looking like He was loosing.

As we try to become more Christ-like we need to remember that we win looking like we are losing.

May '10

Recently, Gail compared a weed called ground elder with sin in our lives; every bit has to be removed otherwise it grows back.

In Hebrews 12:1 we are told to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Ground that becomes overgrown with weeds has no room for anything else. Our lives can easily become cluttered with stuff which actually slows down our growth into Christ-like people.

Clearing out sin in our lives and digging out weeds in the garden have one thing in common; they are best done on our knees.

April '10

You may have heard the one about the alien who left the party because he did not like the atmosphere; well, we need to think about the kind of atmosphere we are creating at church, or in our homes, at work, or wherever we happen to be.

In James 5: 9 we are told 'Don't grumble': that will go a long way in helping us create a good atmosphere.

In Phillipians 2: 5 we are told 'Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus'.

We need to ask ourselves are we being Christ-like in our actions, thoughts and opinions. The key to whatever we are doing is not whether it is Christian but is it Christ-like.

March '10

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth."

Many people in authority need our prayers, but one man I would like to bringt to your attention is President Barack Obama. His health reform bill made it through Congress this month. A monumental accomplishment by anyone's standards.

Trying to help poor people is surely the Christian way and yet sadly it seems some Christians opposed the bill. Big business and financial corporations opposed the bill spending billions of dollars lobbying against it. The result of all this is that President Obama has now become a figure of hate to many bitter and twisted individuals.

It is vital that we pray for him and his family's safety. Remember Jesus loved the poor and helped them but incredibly people who believed in God killed Him.

Praise God that Jesus rose from the tomb so that His followers could take good news to the poor.

February '10

Matthew 13: 52

"He said to them, 'Therefore every teacher fo the law who has been instrucvted about the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old'."

Just before taking my boys to school the other morning a fuse went, so all the downstairs lights were out of action. I had an idea of where I could get some fuse wire, but when I first tried the shop it was closed, so I walked on a bit further and went into a decorating shop that was open, but no fuse wire there. Well, it was a bit of a long shot but it was open, so I tried it.

I then went back to the first shop I had tried, but it was still closed. It was too cold to standaround waiting so I went home, got in the car, and drove down to one of the big DIY centres and got the fuse.

People need Jesus.

Just as lights will not work without a fuse, a life cannot be lived properly without Jesus.

Some people deliberately ignore this; others at some stage want to change and start looking for what is missing in their lives.

They may try various churches, some people may try our church: we need to be open, and we need to be there, ready to share our treasures with them.

 

 

 

 

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January '10

This year, if we are going to pursue righteousness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness (1 Timothy 6 v 11), then we are going to have to make time to:

repent again in two thousand and ten.

Repentance is a must for lifelong holy living.

Thinking again about God and yourself and the relationship between you, is what repentance means; first of all we must think about God.

December '09

Two highlights for me of being in church this month.

Firstly, the visit of Bourne School Choir to our Xmas Factor Family Service. It is always great to see the church full up and the whole event was a real answer to prayer.

The second highlight was a moment during our Christmas Reflection Family Service. We were asked to briefly share something of the joy we had experienced over Christmas. Some people mentioned some wonderful answers to prayer, and then a young boy said how his joy at Christmas had been when he was invited to the house of a family from our church.

The beautiful thing about this moment was that it was the home of the person who had asked the question.

I think God was really in that moment and I can imagine a big cheer going up in Heaven.

In Matthew 18 verses 3-5 Jesus says "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

November '09

Here are some suggestions to help you pray for Christians who are in prison because of their faith.

Pray that:

  • God will enable them to stand firm for Jesus.
  • they may be able to share Jesus with their fellow prisoners.
  • they may be empowered to overcome evil with good in every situation.
  • the Holy Spirit will grant wisdom so that they may be able to answer questions from authorities with love and forgiveness.
  • the authorities will allow families to visit their loved ones in prison.
  • the Holy Spirit will open the hearts of prison interrogators and guards to know Jesus through the witness of imprisoned Christians.
  • God will protect and sustain the families of those imprisoned for their faith.
  • they are released early and continue in ministry.

October '09

Two verses of scripture have really challenged me recently on different Sundays in church.

Hebrews 12:14b 'Without holiness no-one will see the Lord', featured in Brian’s opening remarks on the subject of holiness.

I have come across this verse many times before but have never really tried to credit it with the importance it deserves. In one way the verse could be used to describe the first half of my Christian life, in another way the verse can be used as a starting point, a rule to live by, and a goal to aim for in the second half.

A couple of weeks later Granville while tackling the first two chapters of Hebrews, highlighted chapter 2:1 with a WATCH OUT sign. The verse reads, 'We must pay more careful attention, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.'

It does not matter how old we are or how long we have been Christians there is always a danger of drifting if we are not paying careful attention to what we have heard.

Perhaps these verses can help us see the importance of obedience, if we want to please God and live a holy life which helps others to see Jesus and the dangers of disobedience which lead to an unholy life and a gradual drifting away.

September '09

I hope like me you have enjoyed our recent series in church, Called to be Different. We were reminded that our perspective should be informed by scripture, and then given a brief outline of the story the Bible tells.

Creation: harmony created
Corruption: harmony destroyed
Christ: harmony inaugurated
Consummation: harmony restored

One definition of harmony is the adaptation of parts to each other, so as to form a complete symmetrical or pleasing whole.

To give harmony a shape perhaps a circle can help us to picture the completeness and pleasant agreement of harmony.

At Razzmatazz we play a game that involves leaders and the children standing in a circle, holding a large piece of material which I think is called a parachute. Other children throw plastic balls onto the parachute and everybody holding it shakes it like mad to get the balls off.

Now try and imagine our fellowship here standing together in a circle with Jesus at the centre, with the devil chucking various problems and troubles at us. Together we must stand and lift Jesus up continually looking to Jesus to help us maintain harmony here in South Ruislip.

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